In theory, James Madison’s argument that federalism could prevent a majority from dominating a minority while taking advantage of local management and national diversity appears attractive for the kind of situation existing in Guyana. However, this positive result will only materialise if the system does generally, as Madison suggested it would, throw up an enlightened pluralist national leadership able to contain parochial local excesses. This is precisely the kind of leadership that Guyana, locked in the prism of ethnic leadership, requires. I indicated last week that this Madisonian result,